I was thinking that maybe some of the black oaks would still have nice golden autumn colors, but they didn't, sniff. Instead I was surprised to see the golden leaves on the sycamores that lined the creek. Even better, the recent rains had greened up the grass as well, and the bright blue skies made for a color-saturated day.

I also kinda wanted to see some bigcone Douglas firs up close--this is the southern limit of their range. While I could see some on the slopes to the south and north as I hiked along Santa Ysabel creek, the trail never got even near them, and I didn't feel like bounding through the undergrowth with its poison oak.